New Divide

In the end, as we fade into the night (whoa!) Who will tell the story of your life?

In the end, as my soul's laid to rest what is left of my body? Or am I just a shell?

I have fought and with flesh and blood, I commanded an army.

Through it all I have given my heart for a moment of glory.

In the end, as you fade into the night (whoa!) who will tell the story of your life? (Whoa!)

And who will remember your last goodbye? (Whoa!)

'Cause it's the end and I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid to die

-Black Veil Bride 'In the End'

He was nothing more than a bystander in a darkened corridor of some kind of vault. The only clue that there was a battle raging furiously is the flashes of green and vermilion illuminating the darkness. He wanted to call out, to run, to do something…anything, but his body wouldn't move.

His ears were ringing with the multiple clashes between what seemed to be a man and a woman. Their weapons were met and with it came the clashing. He flinched as this happened multiple times. He couldn't tell why they were fighting, who the villain was, or even why he was seeing this nightmare.

There was another deafening clash and he yearns to call out to the man when he sees the woman slide back and uses her hand to melt the floor below her, and summons ice crystals from the newly-formed substance, hurling them towards him. That feeling soon vanishes when he sees the man deflect them all by moving at superhuman speed, and then darts forward and delivers a bunch of strikes at the woman with his cane, with the last blow launching her back.

The relief is short lived, and hair on the back of his neck starts to stand as an ominous feeling comes over him. He is unable to tear his eyes away as he watches the woman float in mid-air by unleashing an enormous amount of power. The man then slams his cane into the floor, forming a spherical force-field around him. Standing in horror the onlooker watches with helplessness as the woman unleashes a powerful fire blast, with the man leaping into the attack with the barrier protecting him. A scream builds in his throat as he watches the man close in on her, before everything fades to white.

"NO!" The boy yells as he wakes up in a panic and sighs in relief after looking around.

Breathing heavily for a moment and after getting his bearings he gets out of bed, goes over to his dresser, and starts to get ready for the day. Taking a look in the mirror he sees the same reflection he has seen all the time: a boy with tan skin, black hair, freckles, and hazel eyes. However something inside of him felt off, and gave him an uneasy feeling, "Get it together Oscar. You don't have time for this." He mutters out and takes a deep breath inward and then exhaled outward.

He emerges from the loft of a barn moments later and climbs down a ladder wearing patched khaki pants, a white shirt, and orange suspenders and gloves. Tucked into his pocket is an orange-based multi-colored cloth. He opens the barn door to the all too familiar peaceful country scene with a rising sun and birds tweeting; taking a deep breath, he exhales as he observes the white colored mountains in the background and the familiar dirt roads, grass, a few trees, and a green water pump.

Oscar smiles, his stomach unclenching from the ominous nightmare that had roused him from his sleep. It was a beautiful day after all, what could possibly ruin such a day? With this thought in mind, he starts to pump water into a blue bucket. As his gaze wanders once more to the landscape, he becomes distracted from the pump and utters a quiet sound of surprise upon realizing he has overfilled the bucket. His shoulders fall with a sigh of defeat. He clearly spoke too soon, this was going to be one long day. Sighing once more, he refills the bucket and starts to do his chores; unaware of how much of a long day it would become.

-SNOOPYKID-

Something wasn't sitting right and she couldn't stand it. As she stared out her window in the meeting room out into her dark ominous landscape, she tried to piece together why she was feeling such unfamiliar unease. In the reflective glass, she sees Cinder Fall still in her seat, with Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai waiting by the door. Scowling internally, she moves away and settles herself back into her seat next to Cinder.

Casually, she holds out her right hand and channels her magic. Cinder starts to breathe heavily with effort. Salem watches for a moment and stares at the new Fall Maiden, almost relishing this opportunity to diffuse the uneasy she felt, "Do you feel it? Don't fight it, girl. It can sense your trepidation. You must make it...dread you."

A soft clicking sound makes Cinder turn toward the large open set of double doors. It is nothing but blackness, but then a yellow glow starts to slowly move forward towards them. It is revealed to be inside a jellyfish-based Grimm with long red tentacles and a black and white body.

Emerald and Mercury react fearfully to it and pull back as it enters. It glides its way over to Salem at the head of the table. Once the Seer Grimm reaches her side, she leans closer to it. After a moment, she puts her hands together and stares Cinder down. Her voice is smooth, and yet there is an underlying crispness to it, "Cinder, I am going to ask you this one more time, and I expect a clear answer." She gives the girl a moment to think and then asks very slowly and clearly, "Did you kill Ozpin?"

Cinder holds her arm out, about to call Emerald over to speak for her. Salem slams both hands onto the table, eyes glowing as she speaks, "No!" Her voice is thunderous and resonates in the meeting room. Cinder slowly lowers her arm, "I want to hear you say it."

The Fall Maiden breathes heavily and focuses hard, trying to get her vocal chords to work again. She rasps a few times first before speaking hoarsely, "Yes."

Salem looks at her for a long moment before speaking to the Seer Grimm beside them, "Reinforce our numbers at Beacon. The Relic is there."

The Seer Grimm glides away. At the door, Emerald and Mercury draw away from it just as they did before. Salem turns her head thoughtfully, looking in the direction away from Cinder and bringing her fingers to her chin. The uneasy feeling did not vanish, it only grew as did the curiosity and frustration. If Cinder killed Ozpin like she said she did, then she knew what that meant; but then again that was not the main cause of her unsettled feeling pooling inside of her, "What are you planning?" She mutters to herself. Even as she said this to herself, she wondered briefly who she referring to exactly; her former lover or the silver eyed warrior that the bandit leader told her about.

-SNOOPYKID-

It was a beautiful blue sky above a green forest. However none of this necessarily mattered to the group. It is silent amongst them, each wearing a frown on their face. It had been just shy of two weeks since they left Raven's camp; the bandits having been busy packing up and moving on their leader's command. No one really knew what to elaborate on, or really talk about.

Any discussion regarding Ruby was tense with Yang's lavender eyes turning red and scowling dangerously; after that there were fewer discussions involving the red reaper. It wasn't to say that Yang didn't care. Yes, Yang was concerned, however over the course of the weeks it allowed the deep seeded sense of abandonment to grow through her.

It was different from the first time in Beacon however. This was about deliberately deceiving them and working with her mother to trap them at the camp. Even then Ruby wasn't entirely the problem either, the conversation she had with her mother before they left was ringing around in her head as well, "Maybe we should stop." Pyrrha's voice came to her, "We've been walking for a long while now and it's getting late."

Yang stops and stares at the warrior and then looks towards the sky and sighs, "Yea I guess. We'll set up here." They set their bags down and started to make camp.

Yang starts to head into the woods to look for firewood, "Hey wait!" She stops and sees Blake running over to her as the others inconspicuously watch on, "It's not exactly safe to go off on your own."

Yang scoffs, "Please I would have been fine."

"Yea because we didn't just get done fighting a Gist, Beowolf, Ursa, or that Nevermore in that order since after breakfast." Blake stated sarcastically, "How is your back by the way?"

Yang winced as she touched the still sore spot. The Ursa they had been fighting had taken a major swipe at her and thankfully her aura absorbed the impact from the claws, unfortunately the momentum she had gained from running towards it caused her to fly back on impact and she had hit the tree…hard, "It's getting there." She chose to answer and walked away from her partner. Then again too, the fight with the Nevermore hadn't been much better. That battle happened shortly after the battle with the Ursa. They had warned her to stay away, but feeling the all too familiar feeling of anger and frustration, she had refused to heed the advice.

"Right and I am so not a cat faunus; the ears are from a costume party that I didn't want to part with." Blake stated following her partner, arms still crossed.

Yang felt herself smile at the dry wit, "I think the purring in your sleep says otherwise."

It was Blake's turn to scowl and she looked away as she felt her face warm at that remark, "I do not purr in my sleep."

"Keep telling yourself that kitten. It might eventually make it true."

"Shut up. We are talking about you, not me."

Yang raised her arms and rested them behind her head as Blake caught up to her stride, "You mentioned the cat ear thing; it is only fair that I mentioned the purring thing. Which, by the way, makes the conversation switch from me to you. So in retrospect we are now on you not me."

Blake opened her mouth once, then closed it, to opening it again, and then closing it. She shook her head and looked at Yang's triumphant grin, "Don't look so smug, we are now going to talk about you. I know you are angry at Ruby; but that isn't all. What did you and your mother talk about before Ruby left us and before we left?"

Yang stopped in her tracks and avoided looking at Blake, "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters." Blake said getting in front of her, "Come on Yang tell me. You know you can trust me."

Yang sighed, and still avoiding eye contact, she clenches her fists and says, "Before Ruby left, she talked to me about staying with her. She didn't say it directly, but now that I think about it, it sounded like Ruby had something to do with our talk before."

Blake winced, "Actually you are not wrong." Yang looked at her and watched as cat ears folded down, knowing her partner was uncomfortable with what she was about to say, "Ruby may have hinted that the talk was personal in nature after you went off with your mother."

For some reason this didn't surprise Yang too much, it only amplified the hurt and the sting of betrayal. She sighed and leaned up against a tree with her arms crossed and directed her scowl upwards towards the canopy, "Yea I figured as much. She was too agreeing to giving us privacy; however before we left we had more words."

Blake's ears were still folded as she looked at her friend, "What happened?"

"There are things that I know, things that would give you nightmares. I am telling you now, if you decide to leave; I cannot…will not…help you." Her mother's voice echoed in her head as she thought about Blake's loaded question. Out loud she said, "That's just it, I do not know."

Blake stands there for a moment or two and asks, "Does it have to do with Ruby?"

Yang doesn't respond and once more the echoes of the conversation come to her, "Tell me. Be straight with us just like we've been straight with you."

A laugh and red eyes staring at her and a smirk on her lips. Raven scoffs lightly, arms crossed, "Not all of you and I think you know who I am referring too." Then the posture shifts and her voice sounds decisive, "One last time Yang, I'm giving you a choice. Stay here, with me, and I'll answer all your questions and more. Including what your precious little sister is really up to."

The feeling was tempting as she listened closely, "We can have a fresh start or…you can go back to your sister and your uncle. End up joining Ozpin's impossible war against Salem, and meet the same fate as so many others." She had glared hard at this, especially after this low blow of a comment, "But can you really go back to trusting someone that's kept so much from you?"

Blake sees Yang's glare and lavender eyes flash red for a brief moment, "She knows more than us." The cat faunus doesn't question who the 'she' is, "My mother repeated her offer of having me stay with her instead of coming after Ruby. She gave me a warning about this war that is happening."

"All I care about is making sure my sister is safe." Yang had responded, and that was the truth. She wasn't about to let anything happen to her sister, and besides Ruby was going to meet them at Haven. She could dish out a few choice words then and get her own answers.

Raven hadn't been too pleased with that, "Ugh…such naïveté. You leave here and you sign your death warrants." Yang had turned away at this point, intending on meeting up with the rest of her team at the entrance to the campsite. She had paused upon hearing this and listens as Raven addresses her one more time, "Yang. If you side with your sister, I may not be as kind the next time we meet…"

Yang doesn't look back at her as she continues walking away, her back towards her mother, "You weren't kind this time either."

The last thing she heard, which she didn't know if she was supposed to or not, was her mother's response of, "I know…"

"Do you think we should have stayed?" Blake asks as she watches Yang come out of whatever deep thought process she had been in.

Yang looks at her partner now and then sighs deeply, "I do not know. Part of me feels like we should have, at least until we could have asked her to open a portal to Dad or Qrow in hopes of getting to Ruby; but then…I do not know, but I feel like we made the right choice…" She pushes herself off the tree and crosses her arms, "This is just all around messed up."

You got that right, Blake thought bitterly. Everyone seemed to be entrenched in their doubts and loathing since leaving the campsite. Just as she was about to comment on this, they heard running footsteps. Readying their weapons, they are about to attack the person running towards them until they see that it's just Jaune, "Jaune? Seriously that wasn't a good idea, running like that." Blake breathed out, sheathing Gambol Shroud.

Yang disengaged Ember Celica and glared at the knight, "She's right. You know I am a 'shoot first, question later' person. Anyway what gives?"

Jaune was panting and leaning against a tree pointing back towards their campsite, "Come. Your uncle. Here. Oh my gods how did you two walk this far in a short amount of time?"

"Wait what?" Yang questioned as she processed his words. She then looks towards the direction where he pointed and ran back towards the site.

Blake and Jaune just watched her, "Is he alright? What's happened?"

Jaune got off the tree and stretched out the cramp in his side. The group had their own discussion since Blake and Yang walked off on their own. In the midst of making dinner for the group, they saw him approaching and originally took him as a threat until Weiss pointed out that it was Yang and Ruby's uncle and they had nothing to fear, "He didn't say really, he wanted to talk to all of us at the same time."

"I wonder if it's about-"

"Could be, but we better start heading back." So together they made their way back, not knowing if the feeling they were having was a good one or bad one.

-SNOOPYKID-

Ruby Rose groans as she sits on the couch. She is still on Patch and despite feeling loads better (granted she still has the scars), and Crescent Rose is now in good working order, her father still has her on lockdown. It was now just over two weeks since she woke up and told her father and uncle most everything. However once her uncle left, it was as if her father refused to believe that she was actually an adult and insisted that she remained home for a while longer, despite her telling him that she needed to leave.

Somehow she didn't recall him being this overprotective…then again she did sneak off the first time, only leaving a note and not really giving him a chance to stop her otherwise. This time though she didn't want to do that to him again. Biting her lip in thought she looks for something to momentarily distract her until she could come up with an idea on to handle her now helicopter father. There are a stack of three books on her right, and seeing the titles she shakes her head and instead picks up the remote control. With a click, the projected scene comes on, revealing a news segment from the VBC channel.

Ruby's eyes widen as the scene shows Glynda Goodwitch unsuccessfully piecing together a building. Across the bottom of the screen, it reads: BEACON INACCESSIBLE. Turning up the volume, she listens as the report had already begun, "...with no end in sight. Try as they might, the local Huntsmen and Huntresses can't seem to get a hold of the situation at Beacon Academy."

She clicks to the next station, and pauses as the next reporter speaks, the large lettering across the screen reads: CCT Repairs "Underway". The subheading reads: Atlas officials working on solution, but not optimistic, "…though the fail-safes have supported wireless communication within the kingdom, the loss of the CCT Tower continues to prevent contact with the outside world. Talks with Atlas officials regarding repairs have so far-"

Ball of dread weighs heavily now. She knew it was bad the first time around, but now reliving it again with all the information she now knew it brought a newer perspective on the situation…and it seemed worse. She clicks again, cutting off the reporter and bringing up yet another news segment. A horned anchorman speaks above the caption: Sending Citizens Home. The corner caption has the logo for VOX News, "…Vale council voted this week to continue to ban any air traffic that does not have a direct correlation with evacuation. The council has made it clear that they feel-"

One more click and this time the news station that she was watching made her more alert, "Multiple rumors continue to circulate as to who was behind the attacks at the Vytal Festival Tournament." The screen shows the caption below: WHITE FANG MEMBER, ADAM TAURUS, PRESENT DURING BEACON GRIMM ATTACK.

The report continued with, "While no one knows for sure, officials have confirmed that high-ranking White Fang member, Adam Taurus..." Adam's image appears on the screen at his name being spoken, "…was present for the attack. Any and all attempts to bring him into custody have been met with brutal force-"

Ruby turns the news off. This was it, she had to leave. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. She sits there holding the remote, and now a plan starting to form. She had to find Sun and Neptune before beginning her journey to Haven. In her own timeline, it was Blake and Sun that had brought the faunus community of Menagerie to Haven…it was crucial that had to happen. There was no way she was going to let Adam fucking Taurus get the best of them. Besides if…no when (failure was not an option…meaning there were no such things as 'ifs'), she finds Sun then she could get his name cleared for that botched match with Mercury.

She nodded her head, yes that is what she had to do, "I'm home!"

Ruby sighs and sets the remote down and leans her head backward on the couch, looking up at the newcomer that way. This was it, she would tell him enough was enough and he had to let her go, "Hey, Dad."

Taiyang comes into the living room, carrying three boxes with two bags hanging from his forearms. He notices Ruby's posture and the tone of voice, but chooses to ignore it for the time being, "How was your day?"

Ruby sighs and leans forward, "Fine, but we have to talk."

Tai freezes momentarily and now can no longer ignore the weight in his stomach. Placing the boxes and bags down, he sits in the recliner chair across from Ruby, "Alright kiddo;" Ruby winces at this, and that brings a tear into his heart, "what is it?"

"Things are getting worse. You and I both know this." Ruby sits up and takes a deep breath, "I have to leave. Now."

He knew this was coming. His posture now mirrors Ruby's as he deflates a bit and puts his hand to the back of his neck as he sighs and considers how best to respond, "I am sorry." He says eventually before taking a deep breath of his own, "But I cannot let you leave. You are still-"

"Still what? Injured? Dad these scars aren't the worst things I've had. In fact they are fairly tame despite now being with me for like the rest of my life." He winces at this, but Ruby doesn't stop, "Besides I have to find Yang and the others. They are going to need me, and I have other things I need to do before I meet with them."

"Your sister and your friends shouldn't have even been out there in the first place!" He now gets up and yells, "Hell you shouldn't have been out there in the first place! This was a job for professional Hunters and Huntresses!"

Ruby was ready for this. It was only a matter of time, in her opinion, before shit had hit the fan. She couldn't blame him for the anger in his tone, "As I told you before, this happened similarly in my own timeline." She says calmly, "And now I'll have you know I never asked for them to follow me. I had hoped to keep them safe this time, not lead them into danger again." Then remembering the last comment he made, she added, "I'll also have you know I am a professional."

"You are a child." He growled out.

This made her annoyed now and she stood up to meet his gaze, "Physically? I am a teenager. Mentally? I am twenty-eight years old thank you very much. Now I am not debating with you. Crescent Rose is fixed, I am healed, I am leaving."

She was about to leave the living room and Tai reached out and grabbed her arm, "No. I am not letting you walk out that door."

She tried to pull her arm away, "I really do not need your permission."

"Damn it Summer I am not letting you go!" This made them both freeze, both eyes widening and their hearts nearly stopping. Slowly Tai released Ruby's arm, "I'm…I'm…sorry." He goes and sits back down, head in his hands, "I can't…I just can't bear the thought of something happening to you…everything that you told us." He shakes his head.

Ruby is still reeling from the shock of her father lashing out and calling her by her mother's name. She had gotten used to over the years hearing from her uncle and sister how much like her mother she was, but now though she never really gave it much thought to how her father felt. The only time she vaguely remembered that her resemblance to the older Rose had hurt him was when she was really young, still too young to understand anything that had happened. Going over to him, she knelt down and placed her hand on his lap, "Dad, please it's alright. Really."

Her voice was soft and that startled him a bit. He wasn't hearing his sixteen near seventeen year old daughter, but that of Summer. He looked up and met the silver pools that he had fallen in love with. The eyes that shone brightly, but yet carried a heavy burden. It was then, not for the first time over these two weeks, he had seen just how much of a burden that weighed on his youngest daughter, "I promise I will do better this time." She said, "I cannot do that though if I am here. I told you briefly, not everything mind you, of what is to come." She continued, "I cannot and will not let that happen again."

"So much like your mother." He sighed out after a moment while shaking his head. However seeing that she wasn't going to give in, he nodded, "Well, alright. At least do me a favor and stay for dinner."

Ruby smiles and gives him a hug, he holds her tightly wishing he wouldn't have to let her go, "Thank you dad." She pulls away and uses her semblance to race up the stairs to start packing.

He sighs as he fights to take his eyes away from the stairs before getting up to put away the supplies he had brought. As he does so, a feeling washes over him like a tidal wave and he turns towards the stairs again. It was cold and ominous, and a sickening thought crosses his mind, would this be the last dinner he would have with his daughter? He tried to shake himself from that thought, but it wouldn't leave him alone…after all she didn't exactly tell them how she managed to jump back in time in the first place, only that she had a battle and 'woke up' in the past. Just how much more was Ruby keeping in that she didn't want to burden them with?